The present invention relates to a new type of paint product, namely, a solid paint having dimensional stability based on ion particle bonding.
Various resin compositions consisting of homopolymers and copolymers having partially neutralized carboxylic acid groups are known. These contain between 3% and 20% of carboxylic acid residues of which less than 50 percent of the carboxylic acid groups are neutralized with monovalent, divalent or trivalent cations. The prior art resins, known as lonomers, are desirable in industry because they combine the utility of a thermoset polymer with the mobility and workability of the thermoplastic resin. lonomers have lower densities than vinyl or cellulosic plastics and because of their similarity to polyethylenes find use as protective films in the food packaging industry.
It has now been discovered that solid paints having gel properties sufficient to provide dimensional stability can be prepared by crosslinking certain reactive polymers with "ion clusters" having polar molecule components. This type of ion bonding of discrete particles differs substantially from the solvent-free ionic bonding of the prior art compounds.